Smoothing and finishing a newly poured concrete surface has customarily involved a time-consuming and difficult process requiring considerable skill. The job is particularly difficult when the concrete surface is wide, as it often is for driveways and other surfaces. However, correct smoothing and finishing is important for a number of reasons, such as the need to achieve a high quality appearance for the surface, to avoid cracking, to obtain proper drainage, and for other obvious reasons. Thus, a thorough and accurate screeding operation is of utmost importance.
To guide elongated screed members, it has been the common practice to drive rows of wooden stakes (into the ground over which the concrete is to be poured) for the purpose of supporting guide rods or bars, such as pipes. The stakes are typically made of framing lumber having a slant-cut or double slant-cut point to aid in driving. The stakes are measured and leveled as well as possible so that their tops lie a fixed distance below the intended surface level of the concrete being poured. Rods or bars are then secured on top of the stakes to serve as guides for the screed members, which extend transversly thereacross during leveling.
This process is often made particularly time-consuming and difficult by problems encountered with the stakes. Often the stakes cannot be driven easily into the ground. Sometimes particular difficulty is experienced in securing all stakes at the right depth with sufficient sturdiness to adequately be kept in place. Frequently, after being placed into the ground, the stakes or some of them wiggle out of place during the screeding operation.
Expensive devices have been developed to facilitate the concrete screeding process. See, for example, the devices dislosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,229,118, 4,105,355, 4,321,024, and 4,115,976. There has been a long-felt need for a simple, inexpensive stake to facilitate the screeding process.